READY TO BALL The 2018-19 Plainview Lady Bulldogs girls basketball team taking on Odessa Permian on Saturday to start the season includes (front, l-r): managers Meagan Comans and Larissa Flores, Julissa Chavez, ... more

READY TO BALL The 2018-19 Plainview Lady Bulldogs girls basketball team taking on Odessa Permian on Saturday to start the season includes (front, l-r): managers Meagan Comans and Larissa Flores, Julissa Chavez, ... more

Photo: Alexis Cubit/Plainview Herald

Plainview looks to continue program’s tradition

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PLAINVIEW – Walking through the halls outside of the Plainview High School gym, the tradition of the Lady Bulldogs basketball program is apparent.

From the four consecutive state championship appearances to averaging 26 wins per year, the team has grown to have an expectation of excellence. The Lady Bulldogs plan to keep that tradition up this season.

“Tradition never dies because we expect to win,” Lady Bulldogs head coach Danny Wrenn said. “We expect to win because of the tradition, but we know that it takes a lot of hard work to do and continue that, especially with the people that we play in the area that are so good.”

The team benefits on getting seven players back after last year’s trip to the regional quarterfinals. The Lady Bulldogs fell to eventual champion Amarillo, 62-41.

This year won’t be any easier, though, with Lubbock-Cooper, Lubbock High, Monterey and Coronado joining an already tough District 3-5A that includes Amarillo High, Canyon Randall, Caprock and Palo Duro.

“Randall and Palo Duro are good traditional programs. You go look at PD’s coach, (AJ) Johnson, he’s been there as long as I’ve been here. Traditionally, they’re really good,” Wrenn said. “Randall is really good program. Monterey’s usually in the playoffs year after year, so there’s a lot of good programs, especially in a big district. It’ll be a lot of competitive games for sure.”

In addition to those schools, Amarillo is back and ready to defend its title. The Lady Sandies get back several of its players, including senior Ashlyn Milton, who won the MVP in the state title game.

“They’ve got some really good players coming back and they have good sub-varsities and a lot of kids to pick from,” Wrenn said.

The Lady Bulldogs also return the majority of the players to their team. Jaclynn Black had 10 points and Jesse Long had five points in the regional quarterfinals, both of whom are back this season.

While the Lady Bulldogs may not have the size of its district foes, the team will use other areas of their game, including its speed, experience and depth.

“I have 100 percent confidence in everybody that’s on our varsity team that when they go in, they’re going to do a lot of good things,” Wrenn said. “A lot at this time of year is continuing each day to get a little better in practice, get in game situations. It’s all about improving. I’ve always said, it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.”

The Lady Bulldogs have had two scrimmages and the main takeaway from those games has been how well the team has gelled together. With three players moving up from junior varsity, the Lady Bulldogs have depended on its older players to help the younger ones adjust to the varsity level.

“Our effort has been really good and our comradery, our chemistry, our support for each other has been really good with this group,” Wrenn said.

The Lady Bulldogs start the season at Odessa Permian at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. With a shorter non-district schedule, the Lady Bulldogs must use each one carefully in preparing for its district opener against Palo Duro on Nov. 20.

“We’re going to (the Colleyville Heritage Tournament) next weekend in Dallas, so we know we’ll see teams in the Dallas area that’ll help us prepare for district play,” Wrenn said, adding that those non-district games also serve to help establish team chemistry. “Sometimes you’ve got to adjust your lineups just a little bit so that everybody’s where you can maximize what they do best to help your team. In a lot of the early season games, we’ll be working on our timing and chemistry of the overall team.

“This is a good group. They’re very supportive of each other and I think we’ll have a really good year.”